80 infants who had umbilical vein catheterisation (UVC) for fluid administration were studied prospectively to determine the risk of infection associated with the procedure. 53 (66.3%) of the catheters were colonized on removal. The rate of colonization of catheters was 30% when the duration of indwelling catheter was less than 12 hours and 83.3% when the duration was more than 48 hours. Out of the 53 positive cultures 41 (77.4%) were single isolates and 12 (22.6%) were multiple isolates. There were 34 Gram positive isolates and 31 Gram negative isolates. The most common isolates were Klebsiella (24.6%), Streptococcus faecalis (16.9%) and Escherichia coli (12.3%). Of the 53 patients with positive cultures 10 died within the first 24 hours, 9 after 24 hours and 2 after 4 days. The last 2 infants had necrotizing enterocolitis. The remaining 32 patients showed features of infection at the time of removal of the catheter and needed a course of antibiotics before dscharge.